Banjo departs HAVU

2-4-2024 11:28

The Finnish rifler departs the team after over a year.

Banjo is on the lookout for new challenges

HAVU have announced the departure of Matias "⁠Banjo⁠" Kivistö from their active roster, citing the 19-year-old's wish to "seek new challenges in his career."

The Finn joined the organization after a lengthy spell in fnatic Rising at the start of 2023 and averaged a team-high 1.05 rating across his tenure.

During his time in HAVU, the organization appeared in the Elisa Masters Espoo 2023 playoffs after beating ENCE and GamerLegion, which conceded with the team surging up the world rankings to their all-time peak of No. 19.

Since their breakthrough event, the results have dried up for the team that currently sits outside the top 70 in the rankings. The team has answered that by replacing Olli "⁠sLowi⁠" Pitkänen with 17-year-old talent Luka "⁠puuha⁠" Eklund, with more changes on the horizon for the team.

Read more
HAVU announce puuha signing

HAVU have just two days before their next outing at YaLLa Compass Spring 2024, where they will face off against Rodion "⁠fear⁠" Smyk's Passion UA squad.

Date Matches
YaLLa Compass Spring 2024
04/04/2024
HAVU
15:00
Passion UA
 Match

HAVU are now:

Finland Samu "⁠uli⁠" Leirilaakso
Finland Otto "⁠ottoNd⁠" Sihvo
Finland Jussi "⁠Airax⁠" Airaksinen
Finland Luka "⁠puuha⁠" Eklund

Finland Mikko "⁠xartE⁠" Välimaa (coach)

Finland Luka 'puuha' Eklund
Luka 'puuha' Eklund
Age:
17
Team:
HAVU
Rating 1.0:
0.77
Maps played:
41
KPR:
0.56
DPR:
0.76
Finland Jussi 'Airax' Airaksinen
Jussi 'Airax' Airaksinen
Age:
28
Team:
HAVU
Rating 1.0:
0.86
Maps played:
434
KPR:
0.61
DPR:
0.74
Finland Matias 'Banjo' Kivistö
Matias 'Banjo' Kivistö
Age:
19
Team:
No team
Rating 1.0:
0.98
Maps played:
417
KPR:
0.65
DPR:
0.64
Finland Otto 'ottoNd' Sihvo
Otto 'ottoNd' Sihvo
Age:
26
Team:
HAVU
Rating 1.0:
1.09
Maps played:
1074
KPR:
0.73
DPR:
0.63
Finland Olli 'sLowi' Pitkänen
Olli 'sLowi' Pitkänen
Age:
28
Team:
Rounds
Rating 1.0:
1.01
Maps played:
1377
KPR:
0.69
DPR:
0.68
Finland Samu 'uli' Leirilaakso
Samu 'uli' Leirilaakso
Age:
26
Team:
HAVU
Rating 1.0:
0.99
Maps played:
659
KPR:
0.67
DPR:
0.67
Ukraine Rodion 'fear' Smyk
Rodion 'fear' Smyk
Age:
23
Team:
Passion UA
Rating 1.0:
0.93
Maps played:
308
KPR:
0.62
DPR:
0.66
#2
Faceit plus user Faceit level 10  | 
Samppa | 
Finland Smauli
banjo to G2
2024-04-02 11:28
0
#3
B1ad3 | 
Finland n3iki
Deserves better, good for him.
2024-04-02 11:28
0
12 replies
#17
Jimpphat | 
Finland Blizhazard
+1
2024-04-02 11:37
0
#28
Aleksib | 
Finland Pegull
Havu really fell off, are they finally making a good move or is this another +slowi / +zoree / +ex ence player
2024-04-02 12:17
0
9 replies
#46
Aleksib | 
Finland aleksiii
Recycling players is what the finnish scene is good at
2024-04-02 14:08
0
7 replies
#48
Aleksib | 
Finland Pegull
Yea very sad, brazil level shit
2024-04-02 14:11
0
6 replies
#55
 | 
Brazil Madamrocas
every scene does it to some extent: Poland, france, brazil, finland, etc. Since international teams became the norm, creating a single nationality competitive team is almost impossible, only the ruskis and maybe the danes can do it.
2024-04-02 17:21
0
5 replies
#57
Aleksib | 
Finland Pegull
Brazilians could too, if they wanted to make a contender team.
2024-04-02 17:35
0
1 reply
#71
 | 
Brazil Madamrocas
Buyouts make this impossible, CS ain't lucrative enough to justify spending millions on building a top 10 team
2024-04-04 19:35
0
#70
 | 
Europe Weeeii
Brazilians can do it too. If they fuckin stop picking cold fallen and many more retirement home residents.
2024-04-04 10:06
0
2 replies
#72
 | 
Brazil Madamrocas
#71
2024-04-04 19:35
0
1 reply
#73
Aleksib | 
Finland Pegull
it is true, but they could at least stop recycling those familiar names (they are prob expensive as well)
2024-04-04 20:12
0
#51
Finland xEd123
+doto incoming
2024-04-02 16:22
0
#64
podi | 
El Salvador JimpphatBanjoJamppi2023EraPog
+1 hope he finds international team where he can get better.
2024-04-02 20:55
0
#4
Doggo | 
Latvia the_menliest_of_mens
who
2024-04-02 11:28
0
1 reply
#24
 | 
Armenia VirtusNo
big Nintendo bear
2024-04-02 11:54
0
#5
Austria DukiiDidNothingWrong
who
2024-04-02 11:28
0
1 reply
#66
 | 
Finland Chronochoric
The third best finnish player
2024-04-02 22:32
0
#6
Sweden DonGatsby
irrelevant
2024-04-02 11:28
0
#7
ICY | 
Europe EddieFelson
actually good thing, he is solid player to any tier 1,5 - 2,5 teams and he was just wasting his time with this HAVU project
2024-04-02 11:29
0
3 replies
#10
 | 
Russia Donkimuz
ppl just making tiers up? wtf is 2.5 my brother. its tier 1, 2 and all the rest below that
2024-04-02 11:31
0
2 replies
#11
ICY | 
Europe EddieFelson
:D for me 2,5 includes TOP50 teams, tier 2 would be top 30. but then again tier 3 would be like top 80-100....
2024-04-02 11:32
0
#63
 | 
Finland saunamdma
all tiers are made up brother
2024-04-02 20:52
0
#8
 | 
Russia Donkimuz
instrumental player
2024-04-02 11:30
0
3 replies
#41
 | 
Canada golosefastgg
TOPKEK
2024-04-02 13:43
0
#50
 | 
Italy CiroDiMarzio
8/8
2024-04-02 16:02
0
#62
 | 
Finland tailal
nice 1
2024-04-02 19:31
0
#9
 | 
Canada K1nGoldY
Easiest -IM +Banjo of my life also add allu for firepower
2024-04-02 11:31
0
2 replies
#37
Aleksib | 
Europe Antxvi
remove second caller for mute guy
2024-04-02 13:14
0
1 reply
#65
 | 
Taiwan flyquet_disband
NA brain xdd
2024-04-02 21:26
0
#12
 | 
Finland Aleksifinland
banjo very good player but sad to see havu falling further in rankings :/
2024-04-02 11:32
0
6 replies
#15
Faceit level 10  | 
 | 
Finland Hekee
+1 just when havu start to look somehow good they start changing roster, classic
2024-04-02 11:37
0
3 replies
#30
HooXi | 
Europe biggest_HooXi_fan
Lets hope they add some new talent
2024-04-02 12:43
0
2 replies
#38
Faceit level 10  | 
 | 
Finland Hekee
They propably go for some old guy as usual :D jelo to havu would be so meme because he just left jano
2024-04-02 13:20
0
1 reply
#69
NBK- | 
United Kingdom HellWorldCitizen
Bruh, any other roster move predictions?
2024-04-03 13:14
0
#43
Finland whaunw
It's not sad, they literally dont even play, it's deserved. They don't play half of the open qualifiers there are and they don't play half of the online tournaments that many much better teams play in. Havu is the most inactive team in the scene, feels almost as if they as a team and as an org have a massive ego for absolutely no reason and all and they think they're too good to participate in online tournaments. Not suprising a young talented player like banjo would want to be in a team that actually grinds the game and plays everything they can, so he can make a name for himself. He would fall into obscurity (if he hasn't already) if he continued playing with Havu, losing their one monthly game 0-2 every time.
2024-04-02 13:59
0
1 reply
#53
Potti | 
Finland HustlaajaHeikki
+1 sad but true. Miss the Times when there was xseven, slowi, aerial and zore
2024-04-02 16:53
0
#14
Jimpphat | 
Finland Blizhazard
I'm so glad he is leaving Havu. He needs higher level team with some hunger to win something.
2024-04-02 11:37
0
#19
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
Sweden skorpan
ottoNd should leave as well. Him and banjo were the only decent players on this team
2024-04-02 11:40
0
6 replies
#22
Faceit level 10  | 
 | 
Finland Sipunak
otto has been shit
2024-04-02 11:52
0
#23
 | 
Finland KarPPa
Ottond is havus worst player by a mile now that slowii has been removed. Otto was good 2018-2020, he is really really washed
2024-04-02 11:53
0
3 replies
#26
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
Sweden skorpan
Puuha better? :b Airax? :b
2024-04-02 11:56
0
2 replies
#27
 | 
Finland KarPPa
Airax is better for the team than a 0,8 impact rating awper. Puuha is a no namer who hasnt even played 20 officials yet
2024-04-02 11:58
0
#47
Aleksib | 
Finland aleksiii
Airax at least is the igl
2024-04-02 14:09
0
#25
Faceit level 9  | 
allu | 
Finland Varavaanari
Otto is fraud
2024-04-02 11:56
0
#20
ayaya | 
North Macedonia skopje_air
i remember when he was on fnatic rising he was really good, he deserves a better team than this finnish retirement house
2024-04-02 11:40
0
1 reply
#74
Jimpphat | 
Finland Blizhazard
+1
2024-04-08 15:37
0
#21
Japan NyxEzz
good for him, deserves better
2024-04-02 11:41
0
#29
f0rest | 
Sweden GM_Highlander
Can someone remind me how and why HAVU went from 127 to 20'th in rank in just one go?
2024-04-02 12:27
0
2 replies
#31
HooXi | 
Europe biggest_HooXi_fan
Fluke tournament in Finland
2024-04-02 12:44
0
#67
 | 
Finland Chronochoric
They won against Gamerlegion and Ence and managed to get straight into semifinals of elisa masters. They qualified into that Elisa masters as best finnish team from qualifier. The event had multiple good teams and can be regarder as tier 1.5 arena event. The result of course was complete fluke and they haven't done anything since.
2024-04-02 22:35
0
#32
Faceit plus user Faceit level 10  | 
 | 
Finland venyniilo
HAVU jelo
2024-04-02 12:48
0
#33
Faceit level 10  | 
Finland Juhiss
FINALLY
2024-04-02 12:56
0
#34
Europe fasjdui
havu try to not do a roster change for worse for at least 2 months challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)
2024-04-02 12:57
0
#35
 | 
Somalia Lappmaster
Welcome to NIP
2024-04-02 12:59
0
1 reply
#42
 | 
Canada golosefastgg
all CS world to NIP confirmed even fans and casters
2024-04-02 13:47
0
#36
 | 
Finland Misttaa
Banjo deserves better, but I'm not sure where he goes. Now -otto +podi and we have an okay team.
2024-04-02 12:59
0
1 reply
#44
Finland whaunw
with banjo gone, there is literally no reason for any of the ence acd players to ever go to havu. Ence acd is better in every way.
2024-04-02 14:01
0
#39
suki | 
Germany who|cars
AMKAL banjo
2024-04-02 13:21
0
#40
JACKZ | 
England ^Trusty
Banjo, Jimmy and podi to Na'vi confirmed
2024-04-02 13:30
0
#49
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
Finland teppo123
good move
2024-04-02 15:44
0
#52
Potti | 
Finland HustlaajaHeikki
Noooooo
2024-04-02 16:46
0
#54
Jimpphat | 
Finland Goddamn_reddit_normies
this is actually good. hope he and podi will find a great team
2024-04-02 16:53
0
#56
Jimpphat | 
Ukraine loskatynnyri
Maybe LATU ? (new org.)
2024-04-02 17:31
0
#58
 | 
United States festivve
Could be a good NIP or GL pickup
2024-04-02 17:38
0
#59
 | 
Russia _Mike_Hunt_
Ok
2024-04-02 18:21
0
#60
s1mple | 
Finland welmuilija
Good luck banjo
2024-04-02 18:44
0
#61
Germany AleksiG
cya
2024-04-02 18:50
0
#68
 | 
Finland Chronochoric
Good luck Banjo Sad that any hope regarding Havu as best finnish team to be any relevant internationally will be lost with Banjo leaving, but it is of course the correct decision to put ones career foremost.
2024-04-02 22:38
0
Login or register to add your comment to the discussion.

Back to comment

Now playing
Thumbnail for stream
Brazil
MADHOUSE TV
17891 viewers
Top streams
All(64)
Casters(45)
Streamers(12)
Organizers(7)
Brazil
MADHOUSE TV
(17891)
Brazil
gaules
(9964)
Other
PGL
(8165)
Brazil
gaules
(4778)
Other
Thunderpick
(3340)
Russia
Paragon
(2910)
Other
PGL 2
(2565)
Russia
watchfulTV
(2019)
Brazil
gaules
(1801)
Russia
watchfulTV B
(1445)
Argentina
forg1
(1212)
Brazil
boltz
(1099)
Russia
Paragon 3
(925)
Brazil
fer
(880)
Argentina
forg1
(877)
Russia
HappyChucky
(850)
Brazil
nak
(721)
Russia
poka
(697)
Ukraine
Maincast
(640)
Belgium
ScreaM
(588)
Poland
IzakOOO
(583)
United States
Trottah
(491)
United States
freakazoid
(479)
Russia
m4ga
(440)
Brazil
mch
(439)
United States
Stewie2k
(436)
Russia
Paragon 2
(421)
Romania
Werty
(421)
Russia
SBolt
(398)
Argentina
elmorocho7
(314)
Ukraine
Maincast 2
(273)
France
KRL
(235)
United Kingdom
ESL TV
(230)
United States
Trucklover86
(188)
Brazil
mch
(168)
Finland
pelaajat
(167)
Brazil
VitinhO
(156)
France
Croissant Strike
(146)
Mongolia
maaRaa
(139)
Brazil
kabrafps
(132)
Russia
jmqa
(128)
Brazil
XISTERA
(123)
Other
PGL
(118)
Mongolia
Zilkenberg
(107)
Brazil
coldzera
(89)
Brazil
Tris_Mara
(87)
Other
PGL 2
(69)
Russia
Paragon
(58)
Kazakhstan
Paragon
(58)
Brazil
gaules TV 2
(46)
Brazil
BTSBrasilTV
(38)
United States
Regent
(37)
Brazil
VilacaTTV
(35)
Brazil
Napa
(30)
France
KRL 2
(25)
Brazil
gaules TV
(25)
United States
Trottah
(25)
Finland
Elisa Esports
(13)
United States
iamfusiion
(12)
Ukraine
WOLF
(6)
Brazil
kabrafps
(5)
Ukraine
Maincast
(2)
Brazil
BTSBrasilFPS
(1)
Brazil
JokerBR (YouTube)
(1)